After pulling most of the old wiring out, leaving pigtails with the plugs for the different loads in the car, I turned my attention to the HVAC box. I need to pull this out in order to clean it out of all the trash that was deposited inside from varmints, along with the idea that I need to see how the unit is laid out in order to rework the system of controls to simplify the system. I started off on the inside pulling the fasteners for the inner box with the hope I wouldn't have to pull the outside box out too. Well after getting all the fasteners removed from the inner HVAC box, there was still one retaining nut that had to be removed from its respective stud on the inner box. Only problem: its hidden on the inside of the outer box. That shit had to come out. Now while this would sound relatively simple, I was only able to reach the few bolts along the top and sides. There were a couple bolts along the bottom that I also had to pull but they were obscured by the fender shield. The fender shield is a splash guard going over the tire to keep road dirt and water from being thrown into the engine bay and the battery. After removing all the bolts and getting the fender guard out, I was able to reach the remaining couple of bolts and get the outer HVAC box pulled completely. Once that box was out I was able to reach the final retaining nut for the inside box, finally getting it pulled out as well. In order to remove the fender shield I also had to remove the battery tray. I was using the battery tray as a bolt tray to hold all the hardware removed while pulling the fender shield and HVAC box. I could reassemble everything without the fender shield but then that would make it where this car would only be driven in the dry weather to prevent water from being splashed all over the engine and any electrical components. Upon removing the outer HVAC box I found I couldn't get as deep into the box, around the evaporator, in order to vacuum out the crap. Luckily the box is held together even further with a few bolts. Separating the two halves of the outer HVAC box made it way easier to remove the evaporator. Looking at the evaporator, there was a lot of weird trash on the coils where air goes into the HVAC box. I'll have to find some way to remove this trash from the coils in order to ensure proper air flow through the evaporator. I can only imagine a replacement evaporator being expensive compared to other units for newer cars so yep I will be trying to save this part. Now as for the heater core, I'll probably remove that to replace since regardless of how much outside dirt is on the coils, if the core is clogged, it's not going to transfer heat properly. Along with a couple of old hoses and some short lengths of hose that were cut, I managed to get everything removed from outer HVAC box. The inner HVAC box is also out but will be given attention when any work I need to do to the outer box is performed. With the entire HVAC system pulled free I can now start mapping out how I'll start running wires. Of course I'll get the HVAC boxes put back in before I really run the wires, at least temporarily, so I can get the right lengths of wiring put in to go around the boxes. I couldn't remove the vent box as that was actually a critical air passage for the rest of the HVAC system to get air. Removing that box would effectively cripple the HVAC system so it will be staying in place. But at least now, the real disassembly of the interior is completed.
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With the dash out exposing the cab side of the firewall, I was able to go ahead and start pulling out the wiring. The wiring is in a bundle of wires routed throughout the inside of the dash area with pigtails branching off from the main bundle to go to their respective loads. My intent on the rewiring of this car is going to be to try and mimic this style of wiring. Instead of running individual circuits from the fuse block all the way through the car to the load, I will run a larger wire from the fuse block for that circuit then tap off of that wire where it is close to the respective loads. I'll run that power line along a route that will take it past the loads I plan on running off of that circuit. As for the existing wiring, I started at the different plugs that were hooked up to the different loads and after unwrapping the tape or other material from around the bundle of wires, cut a tail from the plug that was anywhere from 6" to a foot of wire. Doing this will allow me to have plenty of wire to connect to with the new wire when I do my wire runs. Some plugs like the ones in the steering column, have wire tails over a foot long. With around five or more wires, I tried to keep all the wires at the same length so some batches of wires are longer than others. Some plugs and interior light fixtures were separated from the wire bundles, leaving enough wire on them to reconnect them if so desired. Some devices were removed that are not currently identified as well. All of these extras were piled up off to the side so they can be identified and decided upon whether to reuse them later. I also managed to get the old fuse box removed after getting enough wiring clipped from the main bundle. With the fuse box out and most of the larger wiring separated and clipped, I can start mapping out some of the other loads. Other things like the door switches and the plug for the gauge cluster were clipped from the main bundle with a foot of wire to ensure enough for reconnection as well. I will have to do some deep inspection of the steering column to check the condition of the turn signal cam and horn button, clock spring and ignition switch. I'll need to know in case I need to order some parts, or, if the parts are too expensive, find a suitable alternative that isn't too tacky. If I go with the latter, I'll at least have to try and make the temporary repair just that, temporary, where I can reverse my fix when I do install the stock hardware. To help make things a little easier for the next phase of the operation, I moved some of the more brittle hardware like the gauge cluster and gauge trim panel into the 69 Mustang for safe keeping out of the elements. Since my next phase is removing the HVAC box, which is a two part assembly, I will need all the room I can get. The box will need to be cleaned out anyway, aside from the idea I wanted to simplify the system by combining the controls to where I just have the blend door for the heat and cooling and have the blower blow through the defrost vent and either the floor or a chest level vent. Either way, we're making progress. It's kind of ironic that after I took time to restore a BBQ grill we found in the trash a while back that a coworker would approach me with a request to fix up an old grill they had. Of course we're not talking about a cheap and otherwise disposable portable grill, we're talking about a homemade metal shop product weighing somewhere north of 100lbs. This grill is as large as it is heavy. It comes in two pieces, the main grill body with a stump tube under it and the pedestal post and feet. Of course we had to use a trailer to haul this thing back to the house and I ended up placing the thing in a section of the yard near the driveway where I had plenty of room to work around this thing. What I would have to do with this thing, besides cleaning it up, is fix the hinge on the top since the thing appears to bind up where it won't close all the way. Everything is pretty worn and rusty in spots. I have to clean the inside as well since it appeared to have not been thoroughly cleaned after each use. Also with the surface rust on most of the surfaces, I would have to take time to scuff that from the metal before shooting a couple layers of high temperature spray paint on the thing. The first thing I started on after pulling the grill grates out was the hinge. This long rusty metal device had to go. Unfortunately it was welded on so I had to cut the hinge in half then grind the weld beads away enough to pry the hinge bases free. There was a chain on the lid to hold the lid at a vertical position, I had to grind the weld free to separate the chain from the lid as well. With that I was able to remove the lid from the rest of the grill so I can more easily work on the device. Unlike the long hinge that was on the grill, all I could find that appeared to be sturdy enough for use with this heavy lid was a 4" black iron hinge at Lowe's. I ended up getting three of these with the intent of spacing them evenly across the back of the grill body and lid so they can evenly support the lid. Instead of welding the hinges in place I decided to drill holes and use 1/4" nuts and bolts with washers to hold everything together. Reasoning being if one or more of the hinges gets rusted to shit they can be more easily replaced. With the new hinges in place, the lid is able to be opened and closed with no binding and uneven closing that would've resulted in a not completely closed lid. Everything works as designed. Because the metal was kinda rusted out around where the old hinge was, after grinding the rusty areas down I was left with some pitted surface that exposed some small holes. I welded in a small patch to cover this area so when the grill is in use that will be one less source of air leaking. I ground down the rougher areas of weld to make it look somewhat neater. It'll be painted over enough to take the focus away from the welded patch. The last thing that had to be done was grind the edges of the cleanout door on the grill body. This door was also binding enough that it wouldn't close smoothly so after giving it the die grinder treatment I got the door situated where it smoothly opens and closes like it should. Now its time for paint. The last thing that had to be done was shoot paint on the grill. A couple cans of high temp paint were sufficient to ensure a good two thick coats of paint over every surface on the grill. Before doing this I took time to do a combination of wire brush scrubbing and die grinding with the grinding wheel to knock the surface rust off of the different surfaces of the grill. Even the grates used in the frame around the grill body were scraped free of as much loose surface rust as possible to ensure proper adhesion of the paint. I did have to use some regular black paint on the feet as I did run out of high temp paint but this surface is far enough from the intense heat of the grill that it should not be harmed. I also took time to put the grinding wheel on the cooking grate to knock off the rust from that so at least the user can get a fresh start on the cooking surface versus having rust tasting meat. The charcoal pan just needed some scrubbing to clean it out, easy peasy. With the grill painted, the next thing will be to fire the grill to help better cure the paint. I won't be doing that, but instead delivering the grill back to my friend to fulfill the contract and put a close on this project. It's always nice to take on a project that can be brought to completion very quickly compared to some of the stuff we've worked on around here. Well our time in paradise has come to an end. It was fun, enjoying the nice weather, nice people and the nice environment as a whole. We had fun doing different activities and eating awesome food and just overall living it up, not having to worry about regular life. But like all good things, they must come to an end. As stated before, after getting everything packed up we wanted to have ourselves staged so when we got up after sleeping in, we went out for breakfast, ate good, then came back to the room to pack the last couple things that were still out. Before that we stopped in the lobby to get the transport lined up and make sure of the times so we can be there waiting and ready to hop on board. We already had our paperwork for the airport so we can make that process go as smoothly as possible as well. We would do the boarding pass crap at the airport since they don't allow you to print anything out ahead of time, due to all the COVID shit. Well after we had our breakfast and made our final arrangements, we packed up, cleared the room and walked out for the last time. We checked out, had our wrist bands removed and got a temporary pass to allow us to go to one of the restaurants for lunch one last time before heading back to the lobby so we can wait for our transport. For lunch we ended up going to a sports bar and having some regular sports bar fare, nothing special, but more than enough to fill us up well. From there we sat in the front lobby for about an hour until the transport arrived. We ended up being the only ones riding but either way, it was a bittersweet ride as we won't be seeing this environment anymore for some time. After arriving at the airport and completing the check in process, including checking in our one check in bag, we went through the hassling security checkpoint crap before making it into the main terminal. Since we had some time to burn before the plane would show up and be ready for boarding we walked around a bit and even got something to eat at another Guy's Burger (And Pizza) Joint in the airport. Overall this airport was way better than our home airport in Jackson, and even better than the Houston airport. This place can cause you to piss away a lot of money on souvenirs with the multiple shops that were present and you have plenty of selections for restaurants as well. After getting on our plane we made the two hour over the water flight to Houston where we had to grab our check in bag, go back through the TSA checkpoint again to get back into the terminal to re-check in our check in bag again for the final flight to Jackson. After going through all that shit we went to our gate and sat down for the hour we had to wait before we would board. We got a little something to eat from one of the restaurants at this airport as it was in the late evening by now and we would have another hour flight before hitting Jackson. Once on the plane we relaxed knowing that we were in the home stretch of the journey. Once in Jackson it was pretty late for all intents and we were the last arriving flight. We got our check in bag and arranged for an Uber ride back to the hotel we stayed at down the road from the airport. After a brief wait we got our ride back to the hotel where we loaded up the Tracker and warmed the truck up since it had been setting for over a week and made that ride home that would officially conclude the Cancun Mexico Vacation Series. After our fun filled day at Aventuras Mayas we had our last day to enjoy at the resort. While we were able to relax once again and enjoy the amenities of the resort, there were a couple things to address. One thing was to take the bullshit COVID test to show a negative result before we would be able to even board the plane to come home. We scheduled an appointment in the morning so after breakfast, we went and got that out of the way we breathed a sigh of relief and commenced to packing shit up. We wanted to be able to take our time doing this since we had extra stuff from the souvenir shops and what not. There was also the matter that since we came with just two carry on bags and a collapsible duffle bag, the duffle bag would be used for storing most of the new shit we got. We had to take time wrapping the more fragile stuff up in softer things since we would be checking in the duffle bag and we didn't wanna risk damage to anything within. As time progressed through the day we did manage to get all the bags situated the way we wanted them, even taking time to use up some of the stuff we had planned on using up to begin with, such as some hygiene items and snack items. While we were home free we decided to just walk around and photograph more things around the resort that we missed during the past days. In the front lobby we got shots of all the different movie memorabilia that we walked by a million times. We were really in a carefree state as we had our literal get out of jail free cards and was ready to head on back since the vacation was officially over. It's kind of funny, when you're forced to put your time away to an end, as is the case with a vacation that is finite, you condition your mind to suddenly disconnect from the joys of being in these places you choose to be in, enough so that you're completely ready to just go away from that joy and get back to the real world. If it was the kind of deal where some kind of business or event had us in this type of environment for a month or so, we would be in a complete getting settled in state, almost like we were permanent residents, wanting to take time to explore and learn all there is to learn about living here and just being a "regular". But reality is reality and the fantasy world comes to an end. As for the restaurants, we ended up saving the best for last and finally making it to the steakhouse. We took the time to get to the restaurant around 530 so we can be sitting there soon as they open and get right in so there wouldn't be any wait. If you come there later after opening you may end up sitting upwards to an hour since everybody and their momma are in there. As is the case, we got right in and enjoyed some meaty goodness on our last night in Cancun. After getting full as ticks we enjoyed more walking around the place after dark since obviously it got dark early, but we did make sure to get another good seat near the stage for the nightly show. Instead of being right in the batch of shitty seats right at the stage that are relatively uncomfortable, we made sure to grab one of the wicker couches on the covered walkway that surrounds the back of the open stage area. We're still able to get a nice view of the stage without being right out in the open. The show that was performed was a circus acrobatics show, which was pretty good and a nice way to end our time at the resort. With the show done and the time getting short, we went back to the room for a final bit of packing to be sure we had everything ready. We had tomorrow's clothes laid out and all the hygiene shit put up with the exception of the stuff we would use tomorrow. The bag that needed to be open to put the remaining stuff in was left open so after we did get ready, we can throw the remaining shit into the bag and seal it up. This would obviously include whatever other stuff we had in the room like phone cords and the like. When we get up all we want to do is go get breakfast, then come back to the room, pack the couple of remaining items, do a final sweep of the room and get our checkout done early so we can get our arrangements for transport to the airport. We want everything to go smooth on our transition back to the US and the real world. After taking a day to recharge our batteries and at least enjoy the resort and all it has to offer, we took on our next excursion, which is to a park called Aventuras Mayas. This place, just like Xcaret, offers many activities for those who are more adventure oriented, since everything is geared more for the outdoor enthusiasts. In the case of Aventuras Mayas, this place has different snorkeling swims, one in a sea inlet where a freshwater river empties into the saltwater ocean and mixes together, creating a unique marine environment where the water temperatures vary by the foot and different species of fish intermingle in the brackish water. Another snorkeling swim offered is in a flooded cave that is home to lots of fruit bats. This swim has to be guided due to the fact that there's no light and with the stalactites and stalagmites, its easy to get hurt if you're not careful. The next thing offered is a zip line run, with a total of seven different lines throughout the park. You get a workout climbing the stairs of each tower then zoom down the zip line, overcoming any fears you have about heights. The next thing is an ATV ride through the jungles that you get to see from the air at high speed via the zip lines. There is also a lunch buffet provided so you can have fun on a full stomach. Of course transportation is provided, as is the case with most of the reputable attractions. Of the things we did we of course did everything, with the exception of the full zip line run. Our setup offered the two snorkel swims, three zip lines and the ATV ride. Now I don't 100% know if there was other activities in the park but the package we bought offered what was mentioned, which was plenty as the whole excursion took the whole day. The bus ride to the facility was in two parts. We rode for a little better than an hour to a meeting point where we transferred buses since there were other groups from other resorts that met up at this spot to get on the couple of main buses going to the park. At the same time we were able to get some snacks, change if we so desired, early, or go to the bathroom, and as seen above, take a picture with a dude dressed up like an owl, which I would assume is a Mayan based costume. From here we rode for another hour to the park, starting at the sea inlet first. Once at the sea inlet, we disembarked, and had the chance to change out one last time, get free lockers to store our crap and rally at the dock so we can get our snorkels (if we don't have any of our own, which I did) and flippers. I had the chance to use my snorkel mask again along with the camera so I can get some shots of fish and the bottom of the river/inlet. Once we were all set we hopped in. The water was a little cool, but not so bad that we couldn't get used to it pretty fast. We swam around, checking out the whole inlet, getting to see how the salt water mixed with fresh water, creating this hazy visibility underwater. At the same time we got to see some tropical fish in their own environment, swimming about just being fish. As you can see in the pics, the sky wasn't looking too promising, as has been the case the whole time while in Cancun, but it wasn't really cause for alarm. As also had been seen, rains never really lasted. It can rain hard for a little while then before you know, it be partly cloudy with sunshine. We continued swimming about and would you know it, about near the time we were getting ready to get out it started raining. It wasn't anything serious, just a smooth steady rain, refreshing really. We got out, enjoying our free shower and making our way back to the bus so we can ride a few miles down the road to the main facility where all the other activities. About 10 minutes later we were pulling up at the main facility. We never bothered to change back into street clothes since we still had the snorkel swim in the flooded cave. As before, we were able to grab a free locker to store our shit as we met up with our tour guide to go to the cave. Once in the cave we waited for a group ahead of us to finish up and get out. From there we hopped on in the water, which was cold as shit. We slowly got used to it but it was way more colder than the sea inlet. The guide along with an assistant, had to use flashlights to help guide us as we swam around the main pool in the cave. There were ropes that were going into deeper water, which actually connected to tunnels that led to other flooded cave sections. Of course we weren't going to be doing this as this would involve using SCUBA gear, which was way above our pay grades. We just took the time to swim around the main pool. We did get to see the bats that were hanging on the ceilings. Since they were fruit bats, there was no concern with them doing anything to us. After the snorkel swim in the cave, we were able to change out if we desired. We figured that it would be easier to just stay in our swim clothes, which were very similar to street clothes anyway since the next activity would be the zip lines. Rapid movement through the air would dry us out real fast I'm sure. Before we went to the zip lines we did partake of that lunch buffet. While we ate I did take time to photograph one of the foreign only car/trucks that we've seen about Cancun. At the zip lines, we were fitted and equipped with a harness assembly that would be hooked to when we are secured to the zip lines. Of course in this type of activity, safety is paramount. The harness is more than capable of holding a heavy dude like me and the roller assemblies they use are set on the zip line cables then hooked to our harnesses with a short length of heavy metal wire cable, allowing us to hang from the zip line at a reasonable enough distance that we won't make contact with the cable. As stated before, we had to climb a lot of stairs to get to the tops of each tower to get hooked up and shove off. Once at the top of the tower we were briefed once more before getting ready to line up to run. After hooking one person up they would wait for the line to be clear and the tower attendant would give us the final instruction and send us on our way. To say the least that was exhilarating and scary at the same time. Each of the zip lines we did were longer than the last. The last one looked like it stretched for over a 1/4 mile with the last third going between a patch of tall trees. After our death defying adventure flying, we shook ourselves off and made our way over to the ATV station. Here we were directed to a line of machines by a garage, after being given our helmets for safety. We were given instructions on how to read hand signals and more or less rules of the road regarding riding ATV's in a group. As we made our way along down the paths, we got to enjoy the jungle scenery. The paths snaked all over through jungle with many peaks and valleys. Of course discipline was paramount as any recklessness could result in getting hurt, badly. Flipping an ATV or going off into a ditch would not make for a good day, not to mention spending a part of your tropical vacation in a foreign hospital instead of on the beach. So yep, safety first. Since it rained, we had the privilege of riding through many puddles. Many of the group tried to avoid these puddles, but yours truly did not, to the chagrin of my passenger who was riding bitch behind me, lmfao. At one point the guide even spotted a tarantula and took time to pick it up and tried to put it in the hand of one of the riders in our group, but Mr Spider wasn't having it and jumped down to make his escape. As we continued down the trails, we hit some runs where the path went up and down rather rapidly, and taking this path at speed we managed to get a little air time on a couple of occasions (remember safety first?). All in all we spent a fair amount of time riding through the jungle, having a relaxing ride after the swims and the flying. Once everything was all said and done we were pretty much dried off, despite the splashing in puddles a couple of times. We were dried off enough that it didn't even pay to change clothes, we just grabbed our shit from the lockers and our souvenir shirts that we picked up earlier while waiting to rally at the cave and hopped back on the bus for a 2+ hour ride back to our resort. After dropping off the other people in the group at three other resorts, we were able to have a cool conversation with the driver who was our guide for the last 30 minutes back to our resort. It was cool being able to learn about life in Cancun and how our guide, Cortez, used to live in the US but moved back to Mexico with his wife after their kid grew up. So it just goes to show that the idea of expatriation is quite popular. When you see places like this, isn't it a wonder why? With this fun day having come to a close, and ordering room service for a late dinner since we came back too late to go to the regular restaurants, we rested well. The next day will be our final real day at the resort as we will be leaving out Friday afternoon. But one of the things we would have to go through is taking a Covid 19 test to show we're clear before being allowed to come back. Don't get me started on that shit, but it was necessary so the sooner we got it out of the way the sooner we can rest easy knowing that our vacation will come to a close on a good note. At the same time we will be taking time tomorrow to pack our shit so we can be able to make a quick and easy transition from our room to waiting to get on our transport back to the airport. No last minute shit here. After the long and enjoyable day that was had at Xcaret, today was going to be welcome as we would need time to recharge. Some tourists make the mistake of booking excursions for every day they're at their resort then end up being completely exhausted before they even make it halfway through the vacation. Bad move, We booked two excursions, spaced with a day between the two so we can at least enjoy the resort and recharge. We got to enjoy more of what the resort has to offer, one of which was getting a nice view of the surrounding area and the ocean. Back on the ground, we continue to explore the resort grounds, seeing what all there is to do here. We did take a little time to play around in the arcade, playing a video game and a couple of claw machines where we got to win several $0.50 made in China toys, which will end up being decorations at home. They even have a theater on the grounds but as of the time they were showing older movies. It's something that one can pass the time with if they so desired. We took advantage of the pay per view movies on our room's TV. They have an pretty interactive setup with the TV where among other things you can pick PPV movies. For dinner we made it to the Hibachi restaurant. Here we sat around the grill while the chef performed some cutlery acrobatics then started preparing the food, even doing some artwork with the food on the grill. We ate rather well that night, with me eating some of the ole lady's leftovers since she eats like a bird. They had a lot of movie memorabilia around the restaurant that had the martial arts theme. Of course being Planet Hollywood, there is a lot of movie memorabilia all about, with some being themed for the specific type of restaurant or location, in this case, Asian themed. After dinner we got a good seat at the stage where we can relax to let our food settle in order to catch the night show, which was a Queen tribute show where the performers sang popular Queen songs, with the singer even dressing in similar garb that Freddie Mercury wore in his performances. It was a pretty good show that was well worth the time we spent grabbing a seat early. You can catch some of that show in the video down below. With our 5th day started in Cancun, we are finally cashing in on one of our discounted excursions that we picked up from the Shark Tank. This is the visit to the Xcaret park. This park is a zoo, historical park, resort, live show venue and just an overall recreational experience to be had while in Cancun. Like all of the decent excursions, they provide transportation from all the common resorts throughout Cancun since the travel times to get to most of these venues can be from 30 minutes to a couple hours from start to finish. We had to be ready and at the main lobby at a specific time in the morning, as the buses for any excursions will be there and ready to pick the people up and ready to move on to the other resorts to make other pickups on their list before making their way to the park. Everything is done in an organized manner so other than a slight delay due to traffic, you are ensured a timely pickup and drop off when they say they're going to come. After traveling approximately 90 minutes from our resort to the park, once the bus was parked, the guide gave us specific instructions for where to meet and granted us all plenty of time to go sign up for any extra attractions they have that were not included in our initial package. All we signed up for was the photo package where we get all the pictures taken through the park emailed to us to print at our leisure. Along with regular photographers, there were many photo spots you can click to make an overhead camera snap your picture. Other than the pics, we didn't sign up for any extra stuff since we figured we'd be there all day walking around and checking out all the exhibits throughout the park. Knowing where to meet at the end of the day, the guide turned us loose to go enjoy ourselves. There were also some Mayan ruins here too. Now I don't know 100% if these ruins are genuine, they more than likely are, with the park being built around the sites where these patches of ruins were situated. A small part of me still wonders if these are skillfully recreated ruins, made specifically for the park. A little more research may turn up an answer to that question, but either way, the exhibits were still pretty cool. Another unique show was that of the Flying Men. This Mayan ritual involves a few men who go to the top of a tall pole. One of them is playing on a flute or similar wind instrument while the other men are attaching themselves to long ropes. They will then start spinning from the top of the post, with the whole top rotating as the men reel themselves out further and further from the top, going lower. The ritual is to promote fertility and a good harvest. Another attraction we enjoyed was their aquarium. Like any decent aquarium they had a number of aquatic displays with different tropical fish, all of which are native to the area, along with other sea creatures like jellyfish, sea horses, rays, eels, even sea turtles, which they are breeding in order to increase the numbers in the wild. This aquarium also had some dolphins, which for an added cost you can swim with them, which we managed to do already in Cozumel on a past cruise. They also had some sharks we caught a glimpse of. Another cool exhibit was the aviary. Unlike other aviaries we've seen, this one is huge. This one takes up the area of a large office building, with walkways and bridges spanning multiple levels. The whole thing is made up like a rainforest, complete with pools and waterfalls. Tropical birds have free reign of the area, with us as mere guests, walking among them, sometimes able to get closeups to them if they choose to allow it. All in all this was the best aviary I've ever seen in both size and detail. As we walked through the park we encountered different animal exhibits. They were isolated from the general public as far as fences or ravines to keep them from escaping but all in all the environment was pretty much the same inside the fenced in areas as is outside, nice and tropical. There were other things to view as well as catch photo ops at around the park. As stated there's areas that are of the resort variety, with lounging areas near the water where guests who stay at the hotel this park has can enjoy at their leisure. We got to see some horses in their stalls. These are used for an outdoor show that was performed later in the evening, which was pretty cool. There's also a butterfly exhibit that is like a smaller aviary where you can handle butterflies for another photo op. One of the more relaxing and fun things that we did at the park was to take a little swim/floating in the partially underground river. This run of water snakes through the park and goes underground at times while running between rock walls, offering cool views right from the water. We donned life vests and flippers and hopped on in the water for a while, slowly making our way down the river, hitting the photo op points along the way. The water was comfortable after the initial shock of jumping in and after a while, I didn't want to come out. I even got to try out my snorkel mask while in the water, being able to catch some footage underwater as well as on the surface while being able to breathe normally through the mask since it covers the whole face versus the mouthpiece snorkel that I still can't get used to. After having dinner and watching the outdoor show that was performed, we made our way to this large theater arena on the park grounds, where we caught this live show they hold at the end of the evening. The show was two hours long and chronicled the history of Mexico from the Mayan days all the way up to the more modern and established culture of Mexico. It was a good show that was a good way to end our visit to Xcaret park. After our version and only episode of Shark Tank and the time spent getting some souvenir shopping done, we spent this day just hanging out and enjoying the resort as was the whole premise of the trip. Funny thing about the tropics and Mexico is the unpredictable rainy weather. It might start raining hard for a while then stop and clear up almost as fast. Well we woke up in the morning to raining pretty good for a while. Luckily the resort is set up where you can walk from your hotel building down covered corridors from one building to the next to get to the main buildings where most of the restaurants are up front. There are other individual buildings with more restaurants, bars, etc in the middle of the resort grounds but at this moment we had no desire to go to any of these since, well, it was raining. To further solidify the idea of loafing around we even took a moment to further look at the decorations of the kids' water park, taking a chance for some goofball photo ops with the displays before moving on back to the room and changing out for some water action since the sun was coming out and the temps going up. We spent plenty of time in the lazy river before going in one of the other pools that was in front of a stage where some resort performers were doing some dances with some of the more extroverted guests joining them on the stage as well. Funny thing about me, it takes some effort and motivation to get me into the water and for me to want to go in the water but once I do manage to get in the water, I never want to get out. That was the case in the lazy river. Despite the water being pretty cold, once I was in there and my temperature equalized, I didn't want to get out, I was enjoying just floating along through the water. When we went to one of the other larger pools where the water was warmer and much more comfortable, I really didn't want to get out, but reality set in and we both decided to retreat to the room to take a quick nap to recharge our batteries in preparation for dinner later on. We wanted to go to dinner soon as the restaurants opened up for dinner because the main evening restaurants fill up fast and you'll end up waiting for a little bit for an open spot. By getting to any of these restaurants at 6pm, when they open for dinner, you can at least be guaranteed for immediate seating. Also you want to be able to have some time to sit and enjoy your meal and not rush out since in order to enjoy the show at night you want to actually commandeer a choice seat anywhere around the stage area. For us we chose a pair of high back lounging chairs that allowed us to lay back a little and still have a commanding view over the stage without being right in the middle of the chaos of being right at the stage. You usually have to grab a choice seat upwards of 90 minutes early as they will go fast. That's fine, after the sun goes down swimming is definitely out and once we have dinner there's no need to worry about eating at another restaurant. Of course we did take advantage of getting dessert at a coffee shop/ice cream parlor near where we were sitting so that made the time spent outside even better. Besides the evenings are very comfortable here and its easy to just doze right off in the night time tropical climate. When we landed at the airport yesterday, we walked through a gauntlet of different people who represented different travel agencies who's job was to try and get you to sign up for everything from excursions all the way to vacation programs at different resorts/hotels at discounted prices. While trying to get to the outside to go find our transport, which we were told would be meeting us outside, we were corralled by a couple of these sharks as they started their sales pitch by asking us who was supposed to be picking us up. While they gave us direction to who to look for, in exchange they wanted us to listen to their obvious sales pitch. Reluctantly we played along and got the obvious sales pitch about coming to the hotel resort they represent to check them out in a presentation for 90 minutes and in exchange we can get 50% off discounted excursion tickets. We played along. They offered us to only pay half now and the other half for the excursion once we completed the presentation. We figured that paying only half would only cost us a small amount of money in case all of this is bullshit versus committing everything in one shot. So following their instructions, we got a taxi to the resort, the Grand/Moon Palace, which they said they'd cover. We met the boss at the lobby, which they did hold up their end of the deal in covering the cab ride. From there we were hooked up with our first shark, Daddy Shark. This fella was probably in his 30's and he of course gave the butter up reveal things about himself story to make us feel more comfortable to talk more about our lives. My main thing was getting to the buffet since they said we can have breakfast at the hotel. Of course our guide also got himself a plate, part of the butter up deal, having a meal with us to help us feel more comfortable. After Daddy Shark couldn't convince us to sign up for the timeshare (which they keep swearing it isn't but it obliges us to vacay at this or one of their affiliated facilities during a preset time frame versus anytime, which makes the program fall into a timeshare status, instead of a timeshare for a condo, its a time share to get a discounted resort stay), they sent in Grandpa Shark. This dude was originally from Canada so they hoped someone who might relate more could convince us. After he kept running his pitch and begging despite our firm holding on why we couldn't and wouldn't sign up for their still pricy program, then they sent in Momma Shark. This one was relentless. She went so far as to damn near say we're stupid for not signing up for this, even going as far as to drop the down payment and everything. It's funny because if I was trying to take advantage of such a program on the premise that we vacay a lot at resorts, I could've gotten everything I wanted as far as what I pay every month and still take advantage of whatever perks the program offered. But since they couldn't get us to budge, they finally sent us to Baby Shark to wrap up the whole presentation and have us pay the rest for the excursion we wanted to buy at a discount. Of course even Baby Shark had to try and get an extra sale but conveniently, he sold us another excursion that we wanted to do anyway at a half off price. After getting our two excursions for the price of one, they also agreed to pay the cab ride back to our resort. Of course we had them drop us off at a mall in the Hotel Zone, which was a little further out from our resort so we did have to cover a couple extra bucks, which was no big deal. Since they paid the bulk of the cab ride, we took advantage of getting a ride to a shopping area so we can get some souvenirs and shit and only have to cover the cab ride back to our resort instead of a round trip. Thanks Shark Tank!!! After returning to the resort, we put our souvenir shit up, and got some grub. From there we went for a walk around the facility. We checked out the arcade and spent some time and money in there playing games before we went ahead and dressed out in swim gear to use the swim out room then walk to the beach and play in the ocean for a spell. After having a good time just floating in the water and letting the waves bounce us lightly, we went back to our room and changed out in order to get ready for dinner. The resort also has live shows every night so we wanted to be able to catch those as well since these shows tend to always be pretty good. Today turned out pretty good, even with the run in with the Sharks. That even worked out to our advantage in more ways than one so for all intents, it was worth it. The rest of the day was pretty good, with us being able to take advantage of what the facility had to offer which also included some good food and a cool live show with a retro theme where the performers did some songs from the 70's/80's while dressed the part. It was all more than entertaining. Stay tuned for part 4. |
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May 2023
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